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Special to the Daily Journal/Messenger

Pickens County Veterans Affairs Officer Rick Simmons has accepted a position as Chief of Protocol for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Rick Simmons is a Pickens native through and through.

He graduated from Pickens High School in 1984 and served the past 12 years as Veterans Affairs Officer for the county.

But Simmons is also proud to serve his country. His tours of duty have included Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia. Now, Simmons will devote all his time to active military service.

Simmons recently resigned his veterans’ affairs post to accept a position as Chief of Protocol for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. He will begin training in early July and arrive in Pakistan in August.

“I worked with the embassy in Albania and in Germany before that,” Simmons said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, so it was like a no brainer.”

But Simmons also understands that he is about to enter one of the hottest spots on the planet when it comes to terrorism.

“It’s right in the mouth of the Tiger,” he said. “It’s where everything is happening — good or bad — and I will have a bird’s eye view.”

Simmons is no stranger to the carnage of war. He was in Bosnia in 2001, witnessing dead bodies to the point where he became sick physically and emotionally. On Veterans Day in 2006 he witnessed rocket mortar rounds claim the life of a fellow serviceman 100 feet from him.

Simmons also served in Afghanistan with the late Capt. Kimberly Hampton, a fellow Pickens County native and the first female military pilot in U.S. history shot down and killed by enemy fire on Jan. 2, 2004.

“Kimberly was absolutely charming and a very good officer,” Simmons said. “She would have had a wonderful career in the Army had she lived.”

Simmons said another friend, Tom Wrenn, was part of his staff that also knew Hampton and was in on the media briefing regarding the news of her death. Wrenn himself would be killed the following year in Iraq.

Simmons understands that sacrifice is something those who join the military understand.

A love for the military came naturally for The Citadel graduate, who earned his undergraduate degree in 1989 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in field artillery.

After unsuccessfully seeking the Pickens County Veterans Affairs Office in 1994, Simmons returned to active duty that included stints in Albania and Germany. When the position again came open in 1997, he decided to run again and was successful.

“It was a real honor to come back and help these people out that I already knew,” Simmons said.

One of the biggest challenges that Simmons initially faced was in modernizing the Veterans Affairs office. During the past dozen years, not only has the office become more modern through computers and other technology, but VA expenditures, including medical, compensation and pension, have increased from $8.9 million in 1997 to $25.3 million.

Another achievement under Simmons’ tenure was the Pickens County War Memorial, dedicated on Veterans Day in 1999 and located at the rear of the Pickens Courthouse.

“I’ve met some wonderful people these 12 years — people who have gone into Normandy (France during D-Day on June 6, 1944), and people who flew with Jimmy Stewart and the Tuskegee Airmen to name a few,” Simmons said. “The last surviving World War I veteran died shortly after I arrived, but I’ve been here to help the World War II veterans in their later years. The Vietnam War veterans are catching up, and now our Iraqi veterans are coming on.

“What people often fail to realize is that war carries on for 80 to 100 years. The cost of war doesn’t end when the war ends, it goes on through the veterans and then it is passed down to their survivors.”

Simmons said he also has a soft spot for reservists, particularly since he has been in the Army reserves and has experienced multiple peacekeeping and combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Reservists stand between the American people and the draft,” he said. “If reservists weren’t fulfilling the obligation role that they’re fulfilling, there would be a draft.”

Though he will miss the veterans and their families he has Simmons admits his disengagement and reengagement from civilian life in recent years “has taken its toll.”

“Life will be much simpler doing military all the time and focusing on one thing,” Simmons said. “But I do it because I love it, and it’s made me a better veteran’s affairs officer. I’ve had assignments with the Marine Corps in Iraq, Navy and Air Force, and it’s allowed me to have a perspective that many might otherwise not have.”